The Sugar-Plum Tree

Have you ever heard
Of the Sugar-Plum Tree?
'Tis a marvel of great renown!
It blooms on the shore
Of the Lollipop sea
In the garden of Shut-Eye Town.

The fruit that it bears
Is so wondrously sweet
(As those who have tasted it say)
That good little children
Have only to eat
Of that fruit to be happy next day.

When you've got to the tree,
You would have a hard time
To capture the fruit which I sing;
The tree is so tall that
No person could climb
To the boughs where the sugar-plums swing.

But up in that tree
Sits a chocolate cat,
And a gingerbread dog prowls below-
And this is the way
You contrive to get at
Those sugar-plums tempting you so:

You say but the word
To that gingerbread dog
And he barks with such terrible zest
That the chocolate cat
Is at once all agog,
As her swelling proportions attest.

There are marshmallows, gumdrops,
And peppermint canes,
With stripings of scarlet or gold,
And you carry away
Of the treasure that rains
As much as your apron can hold!

So come, little child,
Cuddle closer to me
In your dainty white nightcap and gown,
And I'll rock you away
To that Sugar-Plum Tree
In the garden of Shut-Eye Town.

by Eugene Field (1850-1895)
Midi: Sugar Plum Tree

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